Russia announced the deployment of its RS-28 Sarmat Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), which is referred to as the “world’s deadliest missile.”
The announcement was made by Russian space agency chief Yury Borisov on Saturday. However, the exact date and location of the deployment were not disclosed.
The Sarmat missile has been nicknamed “Satan II”, as it will replace Soviet-era Voevoda missiles, known by the NATO designation SS-18 “Satan”.
The new missile is designed to carry out nuclear strikes on targets thousands of missiles away in the United States or Europe.
Referring to the combat capability of this next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile, Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier said that RS-28 would make Russia’s enemies “think twice.”
Quoting the space agency chief, the state-run news agency TASS said, “Based on experts’ estimates, the RS-28 Sarmat is capable of delivering a MIRVed warhead weighing up to 10 tonnes to any location worldwide, both over the North and South Poles.”
The Sarmat strategic system has assumed a combat alert posture, the news agency reported.
RS-28 Sarmat is a nuclear-capable three-stage missile with a range of 18,000 kilometres and a launch weight of 208.1 metric tons. It is capable of carrying up to 10 heavy or 15 light warheads. It can also carry up to 24 Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles that can manoeuvre in flight, making them difficult to intercept.
“The new complex has the highest tactical and technical characteristics and is capable of overcoming all modern means of anti-missile defence. It has no analogues in the world and won’t have for a long time to come,” Putin said earlier, referring to the new missile.
The missile was launched and test-fired on April 20, 2022, just months after the Russia and Ukraine war started.